Question:
My 12 year old dog has suffered from severe itching due to
allergies most of her life and has been on various treatments. After
a recent flare up and inconclusive tests, the vet recommended
a variety of treatments to address all possible sources of allergy.
She's now on twice-daily antihistimines, a twice-weekly
prescription shampoo, omega fatty acids and a prescription
hypo-allergenic diet. There was some improvement to her
condition and the vet suggested continuing this kitchen
sink regimen indefinitely. Very well, but I highly suspect that the antihistimines
alone would have brought the same results (she's been on
the shampoo, diet, supplements and other treatments before
and they've done pretty much nothing). The prescription
diet alone is inconvenient to buy, costs 3 times more than
her usual Eukanuba Seniors and seems to give her frequent
diarrhea. The prescription shampoo needs to be used twice
weekly, hardly lathers at all and must be left in the fur
for 15 minutes. Also, the dog is very upset that she's no
longer allowed treats in between meals.
Is this type of approach really necessary, or is it overkill?
Answer:
I'm not a vet...I just have an allergic dog. When the vet and I were trying to figure out the cause and cure for her itchiness, we tried almost everything you're doing, but we tried them one at a time. That way, we knew exactly what would work! In Shayna's case, the antihistamine (hydroxyzine) does the trick. The hypoallergenic diets did nothing...nor did frequent bathing with prescription shampoo. I did switch her food to Solid Gold, which has also helped. But it's not a prescription diet. Shayna's allergy is seasonal...cooler months...most likely leaf mold. I don't think it could hurt to eliminate the other modalities and just try the antihistamines. What's the worse that could happen? That she gets itchier? Then you'd know for sure! Treating allergic dogs can be very frustrating. Antihistamines will
help to some degree about 30% of the time. Fatty acid supplements can
be helpful, but will rarely resolve the itching by themselves. It is
thought by some that the allergens, such as molds and pollens, may be
absorbed through the skin as well as inhaled, so bathing may be
helpful, too. It is sometimes found that combining 2 or more
treatments will be more effective than any single treatment by itself.
So I wouldn't be suprised if the bathing and fatty acids in addition
to the antihistamines work better than the antihistamines alone, even
though you don't see any benefit from them without antihistamines.
I do like to try treatments by themselves initially to better assess
their effect. For example, trying antihistamines alone, possibly
several different antihistamines to see which one works the best.
After that, then add in a fatty acid supplement. The fatty acid
supplements are going to take some time to show any effect. I can't
remember for sure, but I think it's 1-2 months, which is an eternity
for an itchy dog. Sometimes the dog is so itchy, that you just have
to get them controlled as soon as possible, though.
Sometimes they just can't be controlled with these steps, or the owner
doesn't have the patience, and we wind up using some steroids. I
don't have a problem with that, they work fabulously and are
relatively safe when used appropriately and cautiously.
A food allergy should be considered if the history is consistent with
one (i.e. non seasonal allergies). It would be sad to go through all
this treatment only to find it was indeed a food allergy, that
potentially could be controlled with diet alone. She might miss her
treats, but if they are part of the cause of her severe itching, then
giving them to her isn't doing her any favors. A hypoallergenic food
trial is the only way to diagnose a food allergy, but it takes 2-3
months of strict dietary control to do it. It's not unusual for the
hypoallergenic diet to cause some diarrhea, as it is quite different
in composition from a regular diet. It shouldn't persist more than a
week, though.
So I think the kitchen sink method has some merit. You should talk to
your veterinarian about your concerns. You can certainly try to go
with antihistamines alone and see what happens. It might work OK,
which would be nice, or you might have another flare up. In my
experience, it would be unusual to have a severely allergic dog
adequately controlled by antihistamines alone.
Tell me, don't vets ever focus on the gut when considering allergies? Like
recommending supplements such as digestive enzymes, acidophilus and
L-glutamine to make sure the gut is healthy and the mucosal lining is
functioning properly? The GI tract is certainly a consideration with food allergies or
intolerance. I have heard some ideas that a damaged intestinal
lining, such as from a hookworm infestation, may allow potential
allergens exposure to the bloodstream, which could lead to the
development of an allergy.
To my knowledge the supplements you mentioned are not part of any
standard treatment for food allergies. I have not seen any
information that would lead me to believe they would be helpful in
reducing or resolving food allergy symptoms.
